City Plans Economic Analysis On Location

Mayor Mike Huether and city leaders said they will do a side-by-side economic analysis of the arena site versus downtown. But the city wants to wait until the design of the facility is complete.

Huether stood in front of the city council Monday afternoon and told them plans for an events center are moving forward, and that he isn't ruling out the possibility of putting it downtown.

"We are still going to do the comparative analysis of both sites, okay? It's the right thing to do," Huether said.

City officials are currently in the process of looking for an architectural and engineering firm to design the events center. And city officials say those designs need to be done before they can do the economic analysis of building the events center downtown or near the Arena. Because they say the downtown area has too many question marks right now.

"Because if we don't have a location pinned down at the Arena or downtown, again, I'll say the economic analysis is not going to be as accurate as it should be or as you think it needs to be," planning director Mike Cooper said.

The city says they need to have the specific design and have a specific downtown site on the table before they can accurately do the study.

"We have to determine that we have a site that can meet the physical requirements first. Than we can do the side-by-side study analysis," Cooper said.

The city is taking applications for architectural and design firms, and one of the questions from one of the firms was if the city had a downtown location in mind. City officials told them there isn't a specific site in mind, and that they're waiting for the professional design firm to come in and help pick a location.